Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 (GU605) review: a sleek Intel gaming laptop with creator appeal

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 : Two-minute evaluate

Thinner and lighter than it seems, the ROG Zephyrus G16 packs some severe {hardware} in a trendy 16-inch body. Whereas there are a number of configurations accessible, the G16 that was despatched to me for this evaluate options an Intel Core Extremely 7 155H CPU paired up with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 that may increase as much as 100W. Sadly the 16GB of LPDDR5X 7467MHz RAM is soldered in and never upgradeable, and 32GB is simply accessible on the Extremely 9 with RTX 4070/4080/4090 configuration for a considerably larger value. The 16-inch IPS display screen has a 16:10 ratio, with a 2.5K (2560 x 1600) decision, as much as 500 nit brightness, a 3ms response time and a 240Hz G-Sync suitable refresh price. You additionally get a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6 and a big 90Wh battery. 

The G16 has two USB-C ports (one on either side), and whereas each assist PD spec 100W charging and DisplayPort output, the left one is Thunderbolt 4 spec (40Gbps) and the correct is USB 3.2 Gen 2 spec (10Gbps). You additionally get USB-A 3.2 ports on each the left and proper, in addition to HDMI 2.1, an SD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The G16 contains an array of customizable RGB lighting within the keyboard backlight, in addition to “slash lighting” possibility that runs throughout the again of the show. 

Efficiency is superb, and the G16 has the cooling capability to let the Intel Extremely 7 CPU maintain excessive efficiency. Even with the GPU becoming a member of in, warmth dissipation isn’t a difficulty in most situations. The RTX 4060 GPU means you will have to show the main points down for many intensive video games if you wish to benefit from the excessive refresh price – particularly on the native decision. Dropping again to 1080p makes it straightforward to maintain the main points excessive, however nonetheless obtain 120+ fps. The laptop computer scales again efficiency on battery or USB-C, but it surely’s nonetheless a lot ok for plugging right into a dock at work, while not having to carry alongside the monster 200W PSU. 

The 2560 x 1600 show is vibrant and shiny, whereas G-Sync, the 240Hz refresh price and 3ms response time makes for very easy gaming. Furthermore, the 100 DCI-P3 colour copy will fulfill creators as nicely. The 90Wh battery is on the bigger facet and could be charged to 50% in half-hour, however the G16 isn’t too eager to run effectively when unplugged. In silent mode (and half display screen brightness) it struggles to final 4.5 hours for productiveness duties on default settings.

The keyboard is nicely spaced with deep 1.7mm journey, and the trackpad is giant and correct. The 1080p webcam high quality is nothing particular however will get the job finished, and is provided with IR that works nicely for facial recognition. The audio system present higher than anticipated sound contemplating the shape issue.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Worth and availability

• How a lot does it value? from $2,899 / £2,299 / AU$3,299
• The place is it accessible? Obtainable in several configurations in most markets

Asus provides a price ticket of $2,899 / £2,299 / AU$3,299 for the bottom configuration of the G16, however what {hardware} is included at that value varies throughout completely different markets. 

It is arduous to guage the worth of the G16, as the bottom spec (in some areas) is not overly interesting, and choosing higher-specced fashions could make the G16 rather more costly and reduces the general worth. I examined a G16 with the bang for buck RTX 4060, however you possibly can go for a lesser RTX 4050, or bump as much as an RTX 4070, RTX 4080 or RTX 4090. Whereas the opposite choices are interesting, the RTX 4060 is nicely suited to the G16 kind issue.

Relying in your location, the precise configurations accessible range and might embody an OLED or IPS display screen, and Intel Core Extremely 7 or 9 CPUs. For instance, the G16 examined is obtainable in Australia with an RRP of AU$3,499 (RTX 4060) however, on the time of writing, isn’t accessible within the USA or the UK. As compared, the upper finish Core i9, RTX 4090 mannequin prices $3,499 / £3,999 / AU$6,999.

Asus additionally introduced a brand new ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605) at Computex on June 3, 2024, which will probably be accessible later within the yr. The brand new mannequin brings elevated AI focus with an AMD CPU and Copilot+ assist, however is unlikely to enhance gaming efficiency by a major quantity. The excellent news is that the brand new mannequin ought to assist drive down costs of the present Zephyrus G16 (GU605) and make it a good higher deal. 

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 evaluate: Specs

Availability varies extensively relying in your location, however total the G16 has numerous configurations that embody AMD and Intel CPUS, and GPUs from the RTX 4050 all through to the mighty RTX 4090. 

The specs listed beneath are for the G16 mannequin examined for this evaluate.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 evaluate: Design

• Balanced {hardware}
• Customizable lighting
• Surprisingly moveable

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is offered as a gaming machine that may additionally fly beneath the radar and make for a succesful workstation. At 35.4 x 24.6 x 1.62 – 1.72 cm (13.94 x 9.69 x 0.64 – 0.68 inches) and 1.85kg (4.08 lbs) the G16 is fairly slim for a 16-inch, discrete GPU-sporting laptop computer. It’s price noting that whereas Asus claims the thickness is as much as 1.72cm, I measured the laptop computer at as much as 1.79cm on the thickest level and a couple of.1cm off the desk when together with the ft. On the plus facet, the width, depth and weight are correct.

The G16 chassis is CNC-machined (a computerized manufacturing course of) from aluminum, then anodized, which makes it stiff and sturdy with out including to the burden. General, the G16 may be very moveable, however take into account it does include a monster 200W PSU that’s wanted for full efficiency. That stated, the 100W USB-C charging is comparatively succesful (extra on that later), so the G16 does nicely plugged right into a dock.

I examined the mid-range mannequin that includes a Intel Extremely 7 155H CPU and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GPU that includes a 100W TGP. The 16GB (2x8GB) of DDR5 is low profile, so soldered to the board and sadly not upgradeable. My G16 additionally had a 1TB Pcie 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, which is upgradable if wanted down the monitor. The issue right here is that if you need 32GB of RAM, then it’s good to go for the higher-end Extremely 9 185H-powered G16, with both RTX 4070/4080/4090 and an OLED display screen. It is a disgrace, as a result of 32GB of RAM is nicely suited to the Extremely 7 and RTX 4060 variants – particularly to be used as a high-powered workstation. Whereas the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 GPUs are overkill for the cooling capability of the laptop computer, and as they’re capped at 115W TGP, don’t provide an enormous quantity of extra gaming efficiency contemplating in relation to the value improve. 

On the plus facet, the cooling setup is nice – and contemporary air is drawn in from beneath and vented out the rear of the laptop computer, that means there aren’t any vents on the perimeters aimed toward your hand.

The G16 has a 16-inch 16:10 ratio (2560 x 1600) IPS panel with a really quick 240Hz  G-Sync suitable refresh price and a stable 3ms GTG response time for easy gaming at excessive or low body charges. The show has as much as a 500 nit brightness and covers 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut, so has vibrant, correct colours. Whereas I want the OLED was additionally accessible on the RTX 4060 variant, the IPS panel is an efficient match for the laptop computer total. 

Wi-fi connectivity is nice, with Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax, triple band 2×2 antennas) and Bluetooth 5.3. The number of ports can also be glorious, and we actually recognize having USB-C PD 100W charging and DisplayPort succesful USB-C ports on either side of the laptop computer – once more making the G16 nicely suited to make use of with a dock or USB-C charging.  The complete complement of quick USB-C and USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, SD card slot and three.5mm audio jack imply the G16 may be very versatile while not having to hold any further dongles.

The G16 has a Home windows Hey-ready 1080p IR webcam with an array of three microphones and noise-canceling tech. It’s a wonderfully serviceable setup and higher than lower-end laptops, giving about common efficiency for the value level the RTX 4060 G16 is concentrating on, however it might be a contact underwhelming on the rather more costly configurations. A fingerprint reader would have been a pleasant addition slightly than the “Premium Glass” energy button. The upwards and downwards firing audio system are fairly good (for a laptop computer) and the Asus woofer setup provides noticeable kick to decrease frequencies.

The G16 has a big RGB backlit keyboard with 1.7mm keyboard that opts to do with no numpad in favor of bigger keys. The keyboard may be very nice to sort on, and we had no bother with prolonged work periods or gaming. The trackpad can also be very giant, and the premium feeling floor was very correct – even with clammy arms. I simply want it included the incredible light-up numpad within the trackpad as featured on another Asus fashions. 

The keyboard RGB lighting has an inexpensive quantity of customization and could be turned white to mix in. The rear of the laptop computer display screen has what Asus calls Slash Lighting – a strip of LEDs that can be utilized to create personalized lighting that may run by 15 completely different animations, match sounds or give notifications. The latter just isn’t very helpful when utilizing the laptop computer (as you possibly can’t see the lights) and is not very shiny. Whereas I favored the idea, the Slash Lighting might have finished with extra choices for personalisation.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 evaluate: Efficiency

• Wonderful RTX 4060 efficiency
• Excessive sustained CPU wattage
• Spectacular cooling system

As a thinner and lighter laptop computer, the G16 faces some minor cooling restrictions that imply it doesn’t run the GPU or CPU as arduous as doable. When utilizing the 200W AC adaptor, the Intel Extremely 7 155H is proscribed to 80W (down from 115W) and the RTX 4060 has a 100W TGP (Complete Graphics Energy, diminished from a doable 140W). These limits are inclined to have little or no impression on gaming efficiency, because the CPU isn’t working at full load, and the 100W GPU TGP is a lot to achieve the purpose of diminishing returns on RTX 4060 efficiency vs energy use.

The general result’s a gaming laptop computer that offers efficiency simply pretty much as good as most different RTX 4060-based machines, however in a thinner and lighter kind issue. The G16 will fortunately run any trendy sport at excessive body charges, however you will have to show down the main points (or scale back the decision) if you wish to push past 100 fps or attempt to make use of the complete 240Hz display screen refresh price. Intense video games comparable to Cyberpunk 2077 will push the RTX 4060 to its limits, however turning on Nvidia DLSS can provide an enormous increase – taking body charges from 51 fps to 83 fps at 1080p Extremely settings. With a little bit of tweaking it is doable to get affordable high quality outcomes at over 100 fps, however a higher-end GPU can be wanted to go a lot additional with out main reductions to high quality.

The Zephyrus G16 is obtainable in configurations geared up with high-end RTX 4080 or 4090 GPUs. Whereas these fashions will give improved efficiency, the GPUs are capped at 115W, and so received’t give the identical outcome as the identical GPU in a thicker gaming laptop computer utilizing the next TGP.

The G16 is positioned as a gaming machine that can also be a really succesful creator or productiveness workstation. Because of the high-power cooling system, the G16 can run the CPU on the full 80W TPD (Thermal Design Energy) more often than not, and even beneath prolonged heavy load can maintain 70W. This implies efficiency in CPU-heavy duties that’s pretty much as good as, or higher than, most productivity-only targeted laptops. 

On battery, Asus limits the CPU and GPU to 40W. If plugged in by way of 100W USB-C (comparable to a charger or dock), the G16 makes use of the identical energy limits. For many productiveness work this doesn’t have a lot of an impression, however sustained CPU or GPU heavy workloads do undergo a bit. For instance, I noticed a few 10% discount in PCMark10 rating on USB-C or battery vs AC. However in sustained Cinebench24 testing or lengthy encodes, CPU efficiency could be as much as 30% decrease if not plugged in with the AC adapter. GPU-heavy masses undergo comparable reductions if utilizing the RTX 4060.

I’d have most popular to see the G16 use smarter energy profiles when on battery or USB-C that would route greater than 40W to the CPU or GPU, relying on the full load. For instance, if the RTX 4060 just isn’t in use, making 70W accessible to the CPU would give close to similar efficiency on USB-C or battery in comparison with the AC PSU. Whereas it’s affordable that gaming wants the AC PSU plugged in, plugging right into a 100W PD dock (or utilizing an influence financial institution if away from the wall socket) is quite common for productiveness work. Whereas efficiency remains to be good, it might have been even higher.

At full tilt, the G16 does must vent a whole lot of warmth (I pulled 160W from the AC PSU when working flat out), requiring the followers to run at a boring roar. Scaling again the efficiency settings provides comparatively quiet utilization with lower than a 15% hit to efficiency or sport body charges. The G16 has a big rear vent, which might attain a toasty 50ºC / 122ºF. The underside of the laptop computer peaks at 46ºC / 115ºF, whereas the keyboard is a heat however not uncomfortable 37ºC / 98ºF, and the trackpad a cool 24.1ºC / 75ºF.

• Efficiency rating: 4 / 5

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 evaluate: Battery life

• 4 hours and 45 minutes of use when unplugged
• 6 hours and 27 minutes of video playback

The G16 has a big 90Wh battery however the power-hungry {hardware} takes a toll even on effectivity mode. I might handle 4 hours 45 minutes of labor unplugged, or about an hour of gaming. If taking part in video with the display screen brightness set to 50%, I might make it 6 hours and 27 minutes earlier than needing to cost. It is a below-average outcome and, as a comparability, the Alienware m16 R2 with the identical 90Wh battery (however a Extremely 9 CPU) can attain over 8 hours of video playback or gentle workplace use, and the Gigabyte Aorus 16X manages comparable. On the time of writing, Asus doesn’t give any battery life figures on the G16 product web page, however I am hopeful {that a} future software program replace will enhance energy administration and assist lengthen the battery life.

If charging from the AC PSU, the G16 can hit 50% in simply half-hour, making fast top-ups straightforward. Cost velocity drops as you strategy 80% and a full cost takes round 1 hour and quarter-hour. I noticed as much as 93W of energy when utilizing a 100W USB-C charger, and complete cost instances round 1.5 hours. 

• Battery life rating: 3.5 / 5

Ought to I purchase the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16?

Purchase it if…

Do not buy it if…

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How I examined the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16

• I examined the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 for 2 weeks
• I used it each on a desk, and put it in a backpack for journey
• I used it for gaming, in addition to workplace productiveness work and video modifying

I ran the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 by our typical complete array of benchmarks, in addition to utilizing it for precise day-to-day work.

I used a spread of artificial gaming and productiveness benchmarks, real-world gaming benchmarks, and battery and energy testing.

I used the TechRadar film take a look at for assessing battery life throughout video playback, in addition to productiveness battery benchmarks. I logged energy use in quite a lot of situations, together with when charging from USB-C. I additionally examined charging the G16 with an influence financial institution. 

Read more about how we test

[First reviewed May 2024]